Arrest Tied To 4 Heists

Charges Include Robbery Last Week Of Guilford Bank

December 29, 2000|By DWIGHT F. BLINT ;Courant Staff Writer

GUILFORD — A man has been charged in connection with four bank robberies, including last week's robbery of the Guilford Savings Bank.

Members of the FBI's Connecticut Violent Crimes Fugitive Task Force and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Gary Bornman, 39, outside an apartment complex on Coleman Street in West Haven Thursday. Bornman's address was not available.

The Guilford Savings Bank was robbed of an estimated $5,000 to $10,000. In that incident, the robber passed a note to a teller demanding money. She complied, emptying her cash drawer, which activated a silent alarm. The robber showed no weapon and did not threaten the teller, but he had a bag that could have contained a weapon. He left with the money in the bag, and walked out the front door less than 10 minutes after he walked in.

Customers didn't even know the bank was being robbed.

The suspect, police said, then drove away in a station wagon that was reported stolen, and later found abandoned in a nearby commuter parking lot.

Bornman was also charged in connection with bank robberies in East Haven and in White Plains and Rye, N.Y. In addition, he is a suspect in bank robberies in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Marshals also want him on a federal violation of probation warrant. Information about the warrant and the charges were not available.

Bornman was in possession of a .38-caliber handgun at the time of his arrest, authorities said. He was taken into custody without incident. He was being held without bail in the custody of the U.S. Marshals in New Haven pending arraignment today on federal bank robbery charges.

The investigation was the culmination of a joint effort by the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and the East Haven and Guilford police departments.